John Barrs

It was with great regret that the Go World learned of the passing of
John Barrs, who died suddenly at his home on 31st January 1971.

John learnt to play Go in 1929 at the age of 15 years, and became
the driving force behind British Go in the ensuing years. In the 1930s
he formed the Linta House Wei Chi Association and several
internationally-renowned chess players were involved with John in Go at
this time.

In 1953 John formed the London Go Club, which met regularly In his
home until it finally outgrew his premises. At the same time he founded
the British Go Association; he remained President of this organisation
until his death, and was principally responsible for the great growth of
popularity of Go in Britain. An estimated fifteen thousand Go sets have
been sold in this country to date. Over the years many visiting Japanese
and European Go players have found a warm welcome at Johns home.

A past President of the European Go Federation, he took an active
role in the unified development of Go in Europe. John represented the
United Kingdom in the First and Second international Go Tournaments held
in Tokyo in 1963 and 1964. He gained the first shodan certificate awarded
to an Englishman, and for many years this remained the only one.

He was always full of encouragement for beginners and spent many
evenings teaching all levels of kyus. The current British strength of
one 4-dan, one 3-dan, two 2-dans
and eight 1-dans is testimony to this encouragement. In one
way or another almost all British Go players owe their opportunities to
play the game to John, and his loss is a bitter blow to Go in Britain
and Europe.

This article is from the
British Go Journal
Issue 13
which is one of a series of back issues now available on the web.